"The Princess Bride" is a film beloved by millions, and is the very favorite movie of thousands of people. (Then again, the same could be said of "Titanic".) A lighthearted romantic parody of swashbuckling adventure films, the film attempts to make up for in charm and humor what it lacks in character development and story. And it has succeeded. You are far more likely to find gushing endorsements of "The Princess Bride" than naysayers like Leonard Maltin who try to look beyond its whimsically satirical, feel-good front.
Noted screenwriter William Goldman ("All the President's Men") adapted the screenplay from his own 1973 children's novel. The story kicked around Hollywood for the next fourteen years before Rob Reiner, whose satire "This is Spinal Tap" had a similar feel, secured production and direction.
"The Princess Bride" is a fairy tale book for boys, read by a wise curmudgeony grandfather (Peter Falk) to his 'sick' grandson (played eagerly by Fred Savage, star of television's "The Wonder Years"). The story features heroic Westley (Cary Elwes), who is in eternal rescue of fair-headed, mildly pouty Buttercup (Robin Wright). Buttercup is engaged to sneering Prince Humperdinck of Florin (Chris Sarandon), who schemes to use her to start a war with the neighboring land of Guilder. He hires obnoxious character actor Wallace Shawn to kidnap her. Shawn is accompanied by proud fencer Indigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and amiable giant Fezzik (pro wrestler Andre the Giant). Westley, decked as Zorro, manages to track them down, but faces further troubles at the hands of Humperdinck and his six-fingered right hand man, Count Rugen (Christopher Guest).
Comedian Billy Crystal has a hammy cameo as an elderly wizard, with Carol Kane playing his wife. Peter Cook has an imperious cameo as a clergyman who shares Elmer Fudd's inability to pronounce the letter 'r'.
My complaints with "The Princess Bride" are mainly with the characters. Westley, in the spirit of Errol Flynn, is perfect: more handsome, more clever, more brave and more witty than anybody else. Buttercup is the stereotypical damsel in distress, taking no actions to save herself, but instead waiting around for Westley to rescue her. Andre the Giant is lovable, but not much of an actor. Westley and Montoya have miraculous returns from the dead, the villains prove cowardly, Westley has unlikely triumphs over Fezzik and a giant rat, comic relief is milked from Westley's torture scenes, and we are expected to applaud Montoya's moment of tormenting triumph over Count Rugen. And are we really to believe that Wesley has been drinking poison for years in order to build an immunity to it, just in case it should prove useful in a drinking game?
Since "The Princess Bride" is a comedy, it can be argued that the characters are supposed to be caricatures, as they are satirizing similar characters in circa 1940 films. The problem with this argument is that there are many good comedies which have well-defined, credible central characters (e.g. also from 1987, "Raising Arizona" and "In the Mood"). It can also be argued that to accept the film's lighthearted mood is to enjoy it, so why not simply have a good laugh rather than find faults? The problem is that there is an average-plus movie behind the cheerful front, with characters and plot situations that don't hold up under scrutiny. (54/100)
Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden named Buttercup who fell in love with her handsome but poor stableboy, Westley. Unfortunately, when West...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.